The Lotus E20 is the first car produced at Enstone to be named a Lotus, after sorting the naming row with CaterhamF1. It is also the first one to be named after the Enstone base, dropping the Rxx naming scheme that stood for Renault.

The E20 was launched on 5 February with a recorded video of the car standing in the factory. It takes the track for the first time one day later at Jerez, before winter testing officially starts on 7 February.

In 2011, the team took its 60% scale windtunnel into operation, an upgrade that the team relies upon to make sure the E20 is faster than its predecessor. It allowed the team to expand dramatically the realism of the tests that are performed in the wind tunnel, creating the ability to simulate more realistic steer and yaw values.

Another thing is the banning of front exhausts, a system the team used on the Lotus Renault R31 but which they found extremely hard to develop. With new regulations in place, forcing all other teams to adjust their exhausts, the team's technical director James Allison is confident it posed an opportunity for Lotus to get back in front.